JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R/Kars

Overview

Strategy

Combos

Matchups

Resources

Introduction

The central antagonist of Battle Tendency, the second part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Kars is the leader of the Pillar Men, a group of superhuman vampire hybrids that seek to acquire the Red Stone of Aja so that Kars can be transformed into the most powerful being on the planet. As the leader of the Pillar Men, Kars is cunning and deceitful, always looking to gain an upper hand over his opponent at any cost.

Kars in ASBR is a close-ranged rushdown character that can bully his way into his preferred range with his incredible aerial buttons, large and good-scaling grounded normals, and a variety of movement-based special moves that influence the different ways he can approach the opponent. His Light Mode installs add additional hits to his blade-related normals and special moves, increasing the pushback and hit confirm potential on them as well as giving him an easy cancel option to continue his mixups. He has relatively high damage, being able to convert into 30-40% off of even the smallest stray hits, and his vortex potential after a hard knockdown makes him one of the most threatening characters in the game to defend against.

For the cost of two bars and a setup, however, Kars can shed his base form to become the Ultimate Thing, an install super that dramatically changes his playstyle into a hybrid zoner-setplay monster who can pressure with a multitude of safe buttons and projectiles, as well as one of the best zoning tools in the game in 214X. The drastic variations in gameplay between base form and Ultimate means that Kars can tweak his play depending on the matchup and his opponent, and choose to play in a variety of archetypes to find the one that irritates the other player the most.

Kars isn't all strengths, though; his wakeup is very weak in both forms, especially in Ultimate when he loses access to his wakeup HHA, a large and fast-starting hitbox that can be used as an anti-air callout at some ranges. Kars is extremely momentum focused, and understanding exactly how to keep his mixups going is the key to winning games with him.

• Installs: Kars has two main installs, both of which are accessible from his base form. The Style button that would usually summon a stand or charge meter for a Stand or Hamon character activates Mode for Kars, which changes the properties on his blade-related normals and special moves. For more information, read the Light Mode & Brilliant Bone Blades section of the wiki page.

• Ultimate Life Form: Ultimate Life Form is Kars' third install, and acts as his GHA function. For two bars, Kars dons the Stone Mask with the Red Stone of Aja inserted into it, going through a slow and entirely vulnerable animation of transforming (similar to Giorno Giovanna). When the transformation is complete, Kars does a small cinematic cutscene before the install is finished, which you can then freely input afterwards. Ultimate Kars has a multitude of changes to his original moveset, as all of his original special moves have been replaced with new tools. For more information, read the Ultimate Life Form wiki movelist.

Playstyle

Kars is a hybrid character who utilizes his long-reaching normals and high damage to pressure the opponent into making bad decisions.
Pros	Cons
Ease of execution: In both base form and Ultimate, Kars' combos are generally quite simple for the amount of damage they output, and his optimal loops are not much more difficult. Strong mixups: Kars is amazing at getting hits and converting those into hard knockdowns that he can thrive off of, pressuring with a series of high-lows and janky left-right camera mixups with the threat of taking a third of your health bar on any one blocking mistake. Flexibility in playstyle: Between his two main forms and the multitude of special moves he gets in both, Kars can play multiple kinds of archetypes of his own choice, and even switch between them freely; from a mixup-heavy rushdown beast to a keepaway zoner and everything in between.	Low health: Kars has 850 HP, one of the lowest values in the game, and due to the high damage of some of the strongest characters in ASBR, he can quite easily get two-touched or even TOD'd with the right resources and routes. Volatile wakeup game: If Kars loses the advantage, he can have quite the difficult time gaining it again, especially if his Stylish Guard attempts get repeatedly baited. He has no true invincible wakeup options in Ultimate Life Form, and combined with his low health, playing in ULF can very quickly spiral out of your control if up against another character with strong safejumps.

Light Mode & Brilliant Bone Blades (Install)

Kars has two main installs, both of which are accessible from his base form. The Style button that would usually summon a stand or charge meter for a Stand or Hamon character activates Mode for Kars, of which he has two variations. Mode 1 is activated by pressing the style button, and costs no meter. This Mode adds an additional hit to each of Kars' blade-related moves (5H, 3H, j.H, 236X, 623X, 22L/M), and shortens the arc of his jump. Mode 2 is activated by pressing 22S, and costs one bar. This Mode adds a third hit to each of Kars' blade-related moves, as well as making his jump arc even shorter and making some of his blade moves start up and end much sooner. The tradeoff for using Mode is that while in either install, you are unable to build any meter until you either turn off Mode (by pressing Style again, only in Mode 1), use an HHA or GHA, or are forcefully knocked out of the install by taking a hard knockdown. This means that Mode is a very strong tool to use to close out games, throwing your opponent's reactions out of wack at the very end by implementing a much shorter jump for your mixups to open them up easier.

Stats

Style	Health	Low Health Mode	Hashtag(s)
Mode	850	Rumble	#ASBR_KAR #ASBR_KAS

Move List

File:JJASBR BlueVampire Icon.png

Normal Form

File:JJASBR RedVampire Icon.png

Ultimate Life Form

Normal Form

Normal Moves

5L

5L	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Kars does a short jab with the tip of his elbow. Stubby, not your best starter or neutral tool. Pretty much always gonna wanna use 2L or 5M in neutral exchanges.

5M

5M	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Kars stands on one foot and attacks with a leg strike from behind his back. Big range and quick startup. Amazing in neutral as it can stuff a lot of approaches and gives you medium scaling.

5H

5H	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Kars quickly juts out forward with a bone blade extending from his arm. A second hit is added in Mode 1, and a third hit is added in Mode 2. Unreasonably fast, which means it can also be used as a solid poke at a close range. Combos into 3H if used as an anti-air, giving you a full combo.

2L

2L	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Kars attacks with a short poke of his fingers to the opponent's lower half. Kars' best low, has fast startup and short recovery meaning it can be chained 3-5 times in a blockstring before needing to cancel into another normal.

2M

2M	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Kars does a short roundhouse sweep with his leg. Stubby range, can occasionally poke out some moves that lose to crouchers.

2H

2H	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Kars does an approaching slide, kicking his legs into the air. Mainly combo filler for his 236H loops, as he has better lows and better neutral buttons that don't leave you so exposed.

3H

3H Sabers from my feet!

Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - A bone blade emerges from the underside of Kars' feet. A second hit is added in Mode 1, and a third hit is added in Mode 2. Launches, leads into his main air juggles and loops. The main tool you'll be using for extending combos. Gives relative safety if canceled into on block, though how safe you are depends on the character matchup, so end in something safer if you feel like they have a punish. Extremely safe in modes 1/2. Air crushes if done to an aerial opponent, giving you a free combo on anti-airs.

JL

j.L	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - A fist strike from the air. Superceded by Kars' two other amazing air normals, though it can occasionally be useful for fakeout overheads to try and catch a Stylish Guard.

JM

j.M FUCK this move FUCK this move	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Kars extends his leg to strike with an overhead attack. Extremely deceptive hitboxes on the front and back of the animation. Amazing for crossups. Has a very high amount of active frames, making it perfect for meaty setups Dash jump j.M is one of the most oppressive approaching tools in the game, use it whenever possible

JH

j.H	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - A bone-blade strike with the edge of Kars' arm. A second hit is added in Mode 1, and a third hit is added in Mode 2. Another great hitbox, better for crossing up than intercepting approaches. All of the extra hits in modes 1/2 are overheads, so feel free to abuse it for free double/triple overheads into low pressure.

Special Moves

236X

Cruel and beautiful violence! 236L/M/H File:JJASBR Kars 236X.png	Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. Light - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Medium - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Heavy - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

623X

Behold, frozen brilliance! 623L/M/H	Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. Light - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Medium - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Heavy - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

214X

Shatter against the wall! 214L/M/H	Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. Light - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Medium - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Heavy - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

22X

Victory is everything! 22L/M/H	Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. Light - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Medium - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Heavy - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

Ultimate Life Form

Normal Moves

Stand 5L

5L File:JJASBR Kars ULF 5L.png	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

Stand 5M

5M File:JJASBR Kars ULF 5M.png	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

Stand 5H

5H File:JJASBR Kars ULF 5H.png	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

Stand 2L

2L	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

Stand 2M

2M File:JJASBR Kars ULF 2M.png	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

Stand 2H

2H	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

ULF 3H

6H Brilliant Bone Blades	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

ULF JL

j.L	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

ULF JM

j.M	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

ULF JH

j.H	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

Special Moves

ULF 214X

The power of supreme genes! 214L/M/H File:JJASBR Kars ULF 214X.png	Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. Light - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Medium - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Heavy - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

ULF 236X

Feast your eyes on my Hamon! 236L/M/H File:JJASBR Kars ULF 236X.png	Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. Light - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Medium - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Heavy - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

ULF 623X

This cannot be! 623L/M/H	Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. Light - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Medium - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Heavy - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

System Mechanics

Throw

Normal Throw I'll slice you in two! 5/4 + Any Two Attack Buttons File:JJASBR Kars Throw.png	Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. Forward - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Back - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

ULF Throw

ULF Throw You IDIOT! 5/4 + Any Two Attack Buttons File:JJASBR Kars ULF Throw.png	Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. Forward - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2 Back - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

Assist

Assist Assist Name File:JJASBR Kars Assist.png	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Notes 1 Notes 2

Light Mode

Light Mode On/Off 5S File:JJASBR Kars Light Mode On.png Light Mode On Light Mode On File:JJASBR Kars Light Mode Off.png Light Mode Off Light Mode Off	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Only available in Normal Mode Turns on/off Light Mode.

Brilliant Bone Blades

Brilliant Bone Blades 22S File:JJASBR Kars 22S.png	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Only available in Normal Mode Notes 1 Notes 2

Predator Wings

Predator Wings 1/2/3>7/8/9	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Only available in Ultimate Life Form Mode Notes 1 Notes 2

Aerial Dash

Aerial Dash j.66	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Only available in Ultimate Life Form Mode Notes 1 Notes 2

Heart Heat Attack

Brilliant Bone Blades 236 + Any Two Attack Buttons File:JJASBR Kars HHA.png	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Only available in Normal Mode Notes 1 Notes 2

Great Heat Attack

Kars, the Ultimate Thing, is born! 236L+M+H File:JJASBR Character GHA.png	Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Block Adv. Hit Adv. - - - - - - - Only available in Normal Mode Notes 1 Notes 2